Metal Gear series

Metal Gear (メタルギア,Metaru Gia?) is a series of stealth action video games usually developed and published by Konami. The series has been created and mostly written by Hideo Kojima. In Metal Gear, the player controls a Special Forces Operative who is sent on a military mission which eventually leads him to face off against the latest incarnation of the eponymous superweapon "Metal Gear"; a gigantic and usually bipedal walking tank with nuclear capabilities.

Metal Gear pioneered the stealth genre and features a lot of characteristics which set it apart from most other video games. These include lengthy cinematic cutscenes and intricate, storylines which explore the nature of politics, warfare, science (especially genetics) and a lot of social, cultural and philosophical themes such as free will and artificial intelligence, among many others.[1] The genre of the overall story can be described as "magic realism", meaning that it features unrealistic and supernatural elements (like ghosts or characters who are able to float in the air or walk on water) in a setting which is otherwise true to reality. The series features great amounts of background information on actual science and technology, despite the latter being partially way advanced over what is state of the art. Real political events are frequently referenced and intertwined with the games' storylines. Kojima had come up with the basic premise of Metal Gear as a stealth game from playing Hide and Seek and "Kick the Can" when he was a child.[2]

Overview

Each game involves protagonist Solid Snake (or someoneelsecodenamed Snake) sneaking around maps and avoiding enemy soldiers. Snake is armed with various weapons, most of which exist in the real world. At certain points in the game, Snake has to fight various bosses who usually possess different superhuman or supernatural abilities. In most games, the penultimate boss is the latest incarnation of the weapon Metal Gear, with following bosses being one-on-one confrontations with that game's main antagonist.

Metal Gear 25th Anniversary logo (1987-2012).

Kojima originally planned to release the third Metal Gear game, to be called Metal Gear 3, for the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer in 1994. However, due to the declining support of the 3DO hardware, development of the game shifted to the PlayStation shortly after the 3DO version of Policenauts was released. Kojima retitled the game Metal Gear Solid, choosing this over the working title Metal Gear 3. This was due to the fact that he believed that the first two MSX2 games in the series were not well known at the time. He used the word "Solid" because thanks to 3D computer graphics, he could now create a "solid" game world, although he also partially attributed the title's inspiration to Solid Snake.[4] Sequels to this game generally use the Metal Gear Solid title and generally follow a new numeral progression. The MSX2 games have sometimes been omitted from timelines representing the series' internal chronology, instead focusing on the more widely known console releases beginning with Metal Gear Solid.[5] However, the first two MSX2 games are still part of the Metal Gear canon.

List of games published by Konami. Note that Portable Ops is included among the games listed.

Although Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops and Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance are considered to be canon by Kojima Productions and Hideo Kojima,[6][7][8][9] they are frequently left out of official timelines released during the 2010s and in Metal Gear games listed by Kojima. Additionally, Kojima stated in a 2015 interview that only the games he "personally designed and produced" were part of the Metal Gear Saga.[10] This is because Kojima had minimal involvement in the creation of either of those games, and the timelines reflect the games where he himself was personally involved in their development, as well as reflecting his personal worldview, philosophies, and messages to the audience.[11] In spite of this, however, at the very least Portable Ops has been included in some official Konami-published materials alongside other mainline titles,[5] some as late as when Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain was released.[12]

Canonical entries

Main entries

The main series, considered an integral part of Metal Gear canon, consists of the following games (in release order):

In 1999, the creator of a new species of algae which could produce petroleum-grade hydrocarbons with little expense and effort has been kidnapped by the renegade nation Zanzibar Land, the only country left with nuclear strike capability thanks to Metal Gear D. In response, FOXHOUND's new Commander Colonel Roy Campbell has no option but to call Solid Snake out of retirement to sneak into the fortified nation and take down the terrorists.

In the year 2014, the restriction of military intervention on foreign soil has been eased which fuels the need for private military companies (PMCs) to fight proxy wars for business purposes. nanotechnology has become prominent, both to enhance the capabilities and enforce the loyalty of mercenaries. The nanomachine system "Sons of the Patriots" is used commonly by the PMCs. The five largest PMCs are owned by the Outer Heaven mother company with Liquid Ocelot as the CEO. Amassing an army rivaling that of the U.S. Army, Liquid Ocelot prepares to launch an armed insurrection by taking control of the system. With the world once again in crisis, Roy Campbell deploys Old Snake to terminate Liquid Ocelot once and for all.

In 1974, Latin America becomes a key to maintaining the power balance between the East and the West yet Costa Rica has miraculously managed to maintain peace and neutrality. But in the country's various regions, a mysterious armed force seems to be engaging in specific activities. While stationed in Colombia, South America, the mercenary company Militaires Sans Frontières (French for "Soldiers Without Borders"), led by Big Boss (Naked Snake) and Kazuhira Miller, are approached by visitors (Ramón Gálvez Mena and Paz Ortega Andrade) from Costa Rica. To preserve peace in this "nation without a military", the MSF moves into action and will come to be known as the founders of "Outer Heaven."

The Phantom Pain takes place 9 years later, in 1984. Upon awakening from his coma, Big Boss is forced to flee the hospital he resided in as it is attacked by XOF yet again. He is then recovered by Ocelot, who reintroduces him to the world and a new MSF known as the Diamond Dogs. Big Boss, taking up the new moniker of "Venom Snake", rescues his wounded friend Miller from Soviet forces occupying Afghanistan. The two decide together to take revenge on XOF and Cipher by building up the Diamond Dogs to fight back against the growing influence.